Site management

Q&A - Ask and answer questions

Q&A page

The Q&A page displays the list of questions with further information on when the questions were asked, ID, priority, status and the related site.
For a user who can respond to questions, the organisation of the user who asked the question and the group(s) they belong to will also be revealed. Any questions or answers that a user has not looked at will be shown in
bold text
.
To view more details about a question and take any action on that question that is available to the user, click on the question itself. Additional details are revealed in a new pane that opens to the right.
Whenever details of a question are shown in the detail pane to the right, the
Expand
 button can be used to expand the width of the detail pane to make it easier to view and respond. The button will then change to
Close
 to return the pane to its normal size.
Every question will have a Q&A
ID
 that is unique across all questions in the same site, but it may be duplicated in other sites, as the numbering will typically start at 1 in each site. This ID can be exported in reports.
Use the
View
 option at the top of the page to change how the questions are listed.
A user can search for a question by entering the required characters in the
Search
 field.
Asking Questions
A user who has
Ask Question
 or
Submit Question
 rights can ask a question in one of two ways:
  1. From the
    Q&A
     module, using the
    Ask Question
     button.
  2. From the
    Files
     module, by accessing the file or folder action menu and selecting the
    Ask Question
     option.
In both cases, the
Ask Question
 form is virtually identical, except when it is initiated from the
Q&A
 module, the scope of the question can be about the entire site, not just a specific file or folder
To ask a question, a user must complete the following steps:
  1. In the
    Related to site
     field select the site or file that the question relates to. If the question is asked directly from the
    Q&A
     module, using the
    Ask a Question
     option, the user can browse and change the selected content. If the user is accessing the
    Ask a question
     option from the
    Files
     menu they would have already selected the file or folder. To change this the user should select
    Cancel
     in the
    Ask question
     box.
  2. Select a topic. There will always be at least one topic, and the default topic is selected by default. The topics are created and managed by the Site Administrator
  3. Enter any questions
  4. Optionally select a priority. The default priority is
    Medium
     but the user can also choose
    Low
     or
    High
    .
  5. Add any attachments by clicking on the
    Browse
     button or dragging a file from Windows Explorer into the
    Ask question
     window. When attaching a file from the
    Files
     module, if the user does not have access to the file it will not appear when the question is viewed.
  6. Select
    Submit
Drafts
The asking user can also save the question as a draft using the
Save draft
 button.
This is marked with a status of
Draft
 in the list of questions table only for that user and other users in the same organisation to see.
Click the question to see details about the draft question, including who drafted the question. From here the user can delete the question, edit and finalise it, and send it on for approval (if approval is necessary).
Another user in the same organisation with
Ask-Question
 or
Submit-Questions
 rights can read the draft question, but may not edit or approve it.
Approval Required
If a user is limited to
Ask-Question
 rights, the form for creating a question will contain a note.
This question will be sent for approval
.
The question first needs to be approved and submitted by another user. The status of the question will be
Sent for Approval
.
Once the question has been sent for approval, the user asking the question cannot delete, withdraw or modify the question. If the asking user has
Submit-Question
 rights, their question will be automatically deemed approved and submitted to the answering party.

Approving and Submitting Questions

A question that is asked by a user limited to
Ask-Question
 rights will be made available to users in the same organisation with
Submit-Question
 rights.
These approving users will receive an email notification about the question if they have been granted Q&A email rights, with a link to the question.
A user with
Submit-Questions
 rights can view all of the details of the question, edit the question and submit the question to be answered ('Approve').
Once the question has been submitted, the user will get a prompt telling them their question is approved and a response will be posted.
The status of the question will change to
Pending
 in the list of questions.

Answering and Disclosing Questions

A user with
Reply-to-Question
 rights (or a Site Administrator) who has been given
Q&A Email
 rights will receive an email notifying them that the question needs a reply.
The replying user can view all questions that have been submitted, which will have a status of
Pending
, including details like who asked the question and when it was submitted, and take one of the following actions.
  • Draft a reply
  • Submit a reply
The responding user selects the question and, at the bottom of the page, clicks on the
Reply
 button. Then the responding user enters a reply. Optionally, the responding user may:
  • Select one or more files in the
    Files
     module that support the answer, using the
    Attach file
     button. If another user with access to the question does not have access to any of these files, those files will not appear to that user when they view the answer
  • Attach one or more files from the user's computer that support the question, also using the
    Attach file
     button. No security restrictions will be applied to these files and anyone with access to the answer can download these files
A question cannot receive another answer if it has been disclosed or if it has an unanswered comment. Once answered, any user in the same organisation as the user who asked that question and who has access to the
Q&A
 module will be able to view the response.
Once the answer has been provided, an email will be sent to the user who first asked the question, assuming the user has been granted
Q&A Email
 rights, as well as to other users in the asking organisation with approval rights.
Disclosing Answers
Once a reply has been provided, any user with reply rights can choose to disclose that question and all of its responses to some or all of the organisations with access to the site, although only users with access to the
Q&A
 module see the disclosed questions. Disclosure of the question can be withdrawn later.
Once a question has been disclosed, its status will be changed to
Disclosed
 and the filters can be used to identify disclosed questions. Also, for disclosed questions, no new responses or comments can be added unless the disclosure is withdrawn.
Commenting on answers
Once a question has been answered, the user who originally asked the question (not necessarily the user who approved and submitted it) will have the right to add a comment on the answer, as a follow-up. A
Comment
 button will appear in the answer detail section. In turn, a user with reply rights can reply to that comment.
Commenting and replies follow the same workflow as questions and answers and will trigger the same types of email notifications. For example, a user with the right to ask questions but not submit them needs to have any comments approved first. Comments and their replies can be saved as drafts before being finalised. The forms for creating a comment or reply are the same as the forms for creating a question or answer, respectively. However, the comment and reply will be limited to the same scope as the original question (the entire site or a specific file or folder).
Once a question and answer have been disclosed, comments cannot be added (unless the disclosure is withdrawn).
As long as a comment remains unanswered (whether the comment status is draft, awaiting approval or awaiting a response), the question cannot be disclosed.
When a question with comments is disclosed, all comments and replies are also disclosed.
Deleting Questions and Answers
Select
More actions
, then
Delete
.
You'll be asked to confirm a question trail. Select
Delete
.
Miscellaneous Features
Sorting
The list of questions can be sorted by any column. Click the arrows next to a column title.
Printing
The detail of any question can be printed. Select
More actions
, then
Print preview
.
Export
A user can export the list of questions on the page to Excel. If the user has applied a filter, then the filtered questions will be exported to a file called "QA Inbox Report.xlsx". Select
More actions
, then
Export
.
Choose a format for your export then select
Export
.
Import Answers
Answers to questions can be submitted in bulk by exporting an 'Import template', filling the rows and then importing the file.
Select
Export
, mark
Import template
, then select
Export
.
Enter answers to questions in the Excel file.
Save and
Import
 the revised file.
  • To import answers as
    submitted
    , mark
    Submit answer
  • Next
     to review and complete the answer import

This article applies to:

  • Product: HighQ
  • Subject: Setup